Help understanding duramaxes since I am looking for one.

The injectors in my 01 checked out fine at the dealership when I bought it, 30,000 miles later, and 500 miles from home pulling our 5th wheel, they went out. The dealership quoted me a price of $5,600.00 to replace the injectors and a regulator.

I just called my dealer and got some prices from the service department (Not that I would go to the dealer to have the work done, just looking for a reference point)

Dmax:

Injectors replace: $2800 (all 8)

Glow Plugs: $700 (all 8)

Tranny $5500

5.3L Gas:

Injectors $2000 (most is labor) (all 8)

no glow plugs

Tranny $3400

Other things to keep in mind...... The Alison lasts allot longer between rebuilds than a 4L60E, so the $2000 up charge is not that important because you are going to be x more miles out of it before it needs a rebuild. They also told me that they hardly ever need to replace glow plugs so that is not a big issue.

Injectors is another story. It really is not that much more expensive than a 5.3L Gas engine. If I get 250,000 miles out of my gas injectors, how many will I get out of the dmax? (I know diesel is dirtier so I assume it would be more often?

The injectors in my 01 checked out fine at the dealership when I bought it, 30,000 miles later, and 500 miles from home pulling our 5th wheel, they went out. The dealership quoted me a price of $5,600.00 to replace the injectors and a regulator.

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So how many miles were on your Dmax total at the time of the injector replacement (30,000 + what was on it before you bought it?)

I really liked that truck, but everything about a diesel is expensive. IMO you need to haul on a regular basis to justify the extra cost. My new truck is gas and I miss the torque on hills and the MPG is about 2-3 less, but overall I'm happy with it.

Other things to keep in mind...... The Alison lasts allot longer between rebuilds than a 4L60E, so the $2000 up charge is not that important because you are going to be x more miles out of it before it needs a rebuild. They also told me that they hardly ever need to replace glow plugs so that is not a big issue.

Injectors is another story. It really is not that much more expensive than a 5.3L Gas engine. If I get 250,000 miles out of my gas injectors, how many will I get out of the dmax? (I know diesel is dirtier so I assume it would be more often?

And you can really pro long the life of injectors with the addition of two parts:

A lift pump made by fass or airdog and a cat adapter that utilizes the stock fuel filter head and puts an adapter to allow you to use a 2 micron cat filter which is much cheaper. The fuel would be conditioned and put a lot less wear on your injectors.

And you can really pro long the life of injectors with the addition of two parts:

A lift pump made by fass or airdog and a cat adapter that utilizes the stock fuel filter head and puts an adapter to allow you to use a 2 micron cat filter which is much cheaper. The fuel would be conditioned and put a lot less wear on your injectors.

Thank you for the information . While I do not do this for a living, I have hauled Upright piano's in the bed of my 1500, I have also towed cars on dual axle trailers, and every now and then I have pulled tow behind cement mixers, I tried to put a full bed of soil in it, but there was a point where I was not going to let them put any more soil in the bed because my leaf springs in the 1500 were at their limit.

The reason I put the cost of rebuilding the allison, is that I had to have my 4L60E (piece of junk) rebuilt at 183,000 miles. I was told that, that is pretty good for a 4L60E and it might very well be good for that tranny. As a truck owner, my expectation for a tranny rebuild would have been at 350,000 miles, not 180,000.

I also keep getting told how expensive a diesel is. Well, if I bought a diesel today and sold it in 12 months, I would loose my shirt. If I keep it 12 or 15 years and don't need a tranny rebuild (same me $3000-$5500) that is one less expense I did not have to pay that I did on the gasser.

Then with your suggestions and maybe a custom tune from diablo, if I can get the Dmax up to 22-25mpg compared to 15mpg on my 5.3L gas. Also taking into account I fill up my truck once a week (52) times per year, If I continue to drive the same way with the diesel, I might fill up 40 times per year.

Than over 12 or 15 years, I have saved money buying the dmax. Most of the people than own 5.3L don't believe it is possible.

Then with your suggestions and maybe a custom tune from diablo, if I can get the Dmax up to 22-25mpg compared to 15mpg on my 5.3L gas. Also taking into account I fill up my truck once a week (52) times per year, If I continue to drive the same way with the diesel, I might fill up 40 times per year.

Than over 12 or 15 years, I have saved money buying the dmax. Most of the people than own 5.3L don't believe it is possible.

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22-25 is pretty high I would say 20-22 hwy with a tune. Diesels are more expensive for a lot of reasons. 10 quarts of oil per change, fuel filters, injectors will go bad with LB7's and LLY's have head gasket issues and water pumps. Fuel is obviously more expensive as well. If you can justify owning one then, much like you said, it is worth it because they run for a lot longer. Every part on a diesel is heavier duty. If you are going to tune a duramax though, the best way to do it is EFI live. You can get anything you want. You get either a DSP5 or DSP2 switch depending if you want 2 or 5 tunes. I just got my tuning down and have 1.) Optimized stock (More timing, EGR shutoff) 2.) Heavy Tow W/ Turbo Brake +25 horse 3.) Light Tow W/Turbo Brake +50 horse 4.) +85 horse/Economy Tune 5.) 120 Horse Performance tune.

Gm has produced 5 different Duramax engines over the past 8 years and many have had their weaknesses. One of the best in an older truck is the 2006-07 LBZ engine. Its only weakness is in the fuel supply and a lift pump can correct many potential problems. The 2007 to look for is called the "Classic" and is different than the 2007.5 and later trucks.

Stay away from any engine that has been tuned. It shortens the life of the engine and of the Allison transmission and repairs to either are going to be very expensive. Same applies to running oversize tires.

I have been having trouble starting my 2002 duramax with 172k miles on it. Lately its been 0-10 degrees out with even colder wind chills. Went to NAPA and O'reillys and had them test the batteries and they both said they were fine. The battery on the drivers side tested out at 720 cranking amps and the passenger side tested at 623 cranking amps. Went to start it today at 10 degrees I decided to cycle to glow plugs twice, the first time the voltage gauge read 9V and for the second cycle it read 5V and slowly dipped down to 0V and started clicking. After 3 jumps to just the driver side battery i decided to jump both batteries and it started right up after a few cranks. Once it is running for a while and then turned off it will start right back up again, it is primarily having this problem after a cold night.

I figure that I need new batteries but I was wondering if there is something draining the battery more than it should. Could this possibly be the glow plugs going bad and drawing too much power? Bad relay? Or something else?? Thanks ahead of time!!
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